Professor Gaines is a 1978 graduate of the Coast Guard Academy and was a career Coast Guard officer. He had tours in Florida interdicting drugs, in North Carolina responding to spilled oil and chemicals from natural and man-made disasters, and in Connecticut developing response and planning tools for the management of ports and waterways. From 1990 until his retirement from active service as an O-6 in 2012, he was a member of the Academy’s Permanent Commissioned Teaching Staff, taught chemistry courses in the Department of Science and conducted research in the area of forensic environmental analytical chemistry. He was also very active outside the classroom as an intercollegiate basketball and offshore sailing coach, a safety officer and leader in the summer Coastal Sail Training Program, and as a participant and leader on numerous committees and project teams in the Science Department and Academics Division. In addition to his B.S. in Physical Science from the Academy in 1978, he received an M.S. (1981) and a Ph.D (1997) in chemistry from the University of Connecticut. He lives in Old Saybrook with his wife Andrea who is a professional yacht captain and business owner.